Iran’s oil exports meet the targets, president says

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that Iran's oil exports meet the targets since he took office last August, the country's IRNA news agency reported on March 27.

"As far as oil exports are concerned, we exported oil as we had predicted and this is very important," he told the first Cabinet session in the new Iranian year which started on March 21.

Iran's revenues are close to real figures, adding that tax revenues have been more than predicted, Rouhani said.

"All these show that the government has been successful in its job and I am very happy that the government has made very good achievements during the past seven months," he added.

"Once, the entire world needed us for oil exports and the world shook with our least gesture for fear of Iran deciding to halt its oil supply. The market was awash with our oil and the world energy was dependent on us," the president underlined.

"Anyway, we reached a point where our oil was sanctioned in violation of international conventions," he added.

Rouhani went on to say that the international sanctions imposed on Iran show that the country's economy is flawed.

He said that people should be kept abreast of all realities.

Iran's oil exports have stayed above levels allowed under Western sanctions for a fifth month, according to sources who track tanker movements, in a further sign that a deal to ease some restrictions is helping Tehran sell more crude, Reuters reported on March 26.

Under the Geneva nuclear deal, Iran's exports are supposed to be held at an average 1 million bpd for the six months to July 20. But shipments to Asia have topped that level at least since November, according to ship tracking data.

The U.S. administration believes that exports will fall in coming months and on average will fall to the 1 million bpd level stipulated by the interim agreement which went into effect on January 20.

Iran's crude exports have averaged 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, down from 1.4 million bpd in February, the report said. That is still an elevated rate, as exports of Iranian oil in 2013 averaged 1.1 million bpd.